UMEB: Environmental Endocrinology and Physiology

该项目每年将在爱荷华州立大学招收8名有才华的本科生，通过提供研究培训、密集的指导以及对该领域的兴奋、回报和重要性的清晰认识，从事环境生物学工作。招聘工作将针对环境生物学领域代表性较低的群体，特别是在中西部。该计划将增加该领域代表性不足群体的参与，帮助该大学招募代表性不足的群体，并培养一批为在研究生和研究生职业生涯中继续取得成功做好特别准备的个人。该项目将与爱荷华州立大学合作，并利用其在招募代表性不足群体参与科学和技术方面的强大机构重视和投资，并将特别关注环境生物学。项目重点是让学生作为全面参与者参与科学研究项目，从项目设计到报告和结果的发布，所有这些都在大学教职员工的一对一指导和强有力的指导下进行。每个学生的研究经验将通过一系列计划要素得到支持，包括通过相关项目的实验室轮换，让整个团队参与该领域的环境科学培训和参与的年度研讨会，将提供在环境生物学方面取得更大成功的工具的学术研讨会，以及年度研讨会、特邀演讲者和参加专业科学团体的会议，以产生广度、深度和对环境科学社区的归属感。研究重点将是三个教员小组的研究，所有这些都涉及到爱荷华州中西部生态系统和周围地区的脊椎动物环境内分泌学和生理学。这些研究领域中的每一个都侧重于本地物种，包括具有保护重要性的物种，这些物种位于人类严重改变的区域，对人类生态和自然生物多样性都非常重要。每项研究都使用动物生理学和发育作为测量变量来研究环境压力的影响，并包括环境影响可能通过的内分泌途径的研究。每个项目都足够多样化，以提供必要的范围来确保学生的独立性，并让学生拥有他们的研究项目的所有权。它们的共同要素将使参与任何项目的学生能够了解并为他人做出贡献，并意味着共同的培训和充实计划对所有人都具有同等的价值。

This project will recruit 8 talented undergraduates per year at Iowa State University to careers in environmental biology by providing research training, intensive mentoring, and a clear view of the excitement, rewards, and importance of the field. Recruiting efforts will target groups underrepresented in environmental biology, particularly in the midwest. The program will increase participation of underrepresented groups in the field, aid in recruitment of underrepresented groups to the University, and produce a set of individuals exceptionally well prepared for continued success in graduate and post-graduate careers.The project will collaborate with and take advantage of Iowa State University's strong institutional emphasis on and investment in recruiting underrepresented groups to participate in science and technology in general, and will add a particular focus on environmental biology.The project focus is involvement of students in scientific research programs as full participants, from project design to presentation and publication of the results, all carried out in the context of one-on-one mentoring and strong guidance by University faculty. Each student's research experience will be bolstered by a set of program elements, including rotations through laboratories working on related projects, annual workshops involving the whole group in training and participation in environmental science in the field, an academic seminar that will provide tools for increasing success in environmental biology, and annual symposia, invited speakers, and participation in meetings of professional scientific groups to produce breadth, depth, and a sense of membership in the community of environmental science.The research foci will be those of three groups of faculty, all involving vertebrate environmental endocrinology and physiology in "the land between the rivers," the midwest ecosystems of Iowa and its surroundings. Each of these research areas focuses on native species, including species of conservation importance, in a region heavily modified by humans, and of great importance to both human ecology and natural biodiversity. Each studies the effects of environmental stresses using animal physiology and development as measurement variables, and includes study of endocrine pathways by which environmental effects may be mediated. Each project is diverse enough to provide the necessary scope to ensure student independence, and to give students ownership of their research project. Their common elements will enable students associated with any project to understand and contribute to others, and mean that a common plan for training and enrichment can be equally valuable to all.